The Return
by VaderWasFramed
Summary: Nicole is about to get married to a man who isn't Derek Hale. Derek sees the announcement in the newspaper and surprises her the night before her wedding. Suddenly she has a choice to make. Carry on and leave her past behind for once and for all? Or return to him and make amends? Possibly very short. AU.
1. Chapter 1

_Ughhhh... I know. I'm in the middle of another fic. But this one just wouldn't leave me alone! I felt sad! I wanted something new! It demanded to be written! So sorry, here's another one. It might only have a couple chapters. As in, one more. Leave a review, please!_

* * *

"I can't believe you're finally getting married!" Sarah gushed.

Nicole turned around, her jaw dropped. She swatted at Sarah who giggled and ducked out of reach, darting towards the other side of the bed. "Yeesh! Make me feel old, why don't you?"

"I didn't mean it like that," Sarah quickly said. "Jared and I got married when I was nineteen. We just… we've been rooting for you. And Chris really does treat you like a princess. You really deserve this. You deserve to be happy."

Nicole looked down at the white dress that was laid across the green and yellow duvet on the generic hotel bed, all the lines and curves that made up the lace and the beading. Looking at it, it gave a sort of expectation of the person who'd wear it. It was elegant and extravagant and Nicole had never seen herself as a… well, a bride.

"You know that, right?" Sarah continued, going to her sister's side to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know what you meant," Nicole murmured. She turned away. "Now get out, I need my beauty sleep. The rehearsal is in twenty short hours."

Sarah gave a giddy squeal and danced to the door. "I'm going to organize my makeup!" At the door, she turned to hop up and down like she used to do on Christmas morning. "Eeeek! I can't wait!"

Nicole laughed and shooed her out. As soon as she was alone, Nicole backed up and she sank into the chair against the wall in front of her bed to stare at the dress. She brought her fist up to her chin and sighed.

The clock on the wall ticked six minutes past midnight, and her chest ached as she saw the beads twinkling in the moonlight streaming through the curtains. Her heart clutched painfully, and she turned her chair to the window and watched the moon instead.

* * *

~TWTWTW~

* * *

"Life is a series of choices, Nicole. Some choices matter and some will have absolutely no consequence to the rest of your life whatsoever. Your father and I fully supported your decision to leave Beacon Hills. I cannot, however, say the same for your habit of falling asleep in chairs."

Nicole blinked drearily and squinted against the bright morning sun. Her mother stood in front of her with her hands on her hips, fixating a disapproving glare on her eldest daughter.

"I mean, really, Nicole. Your posture is atrocious lately. Do you want to develop kyphosis?"

Nicole's voice was groggy with sleep. "A hunchback? I'm not sure that's how that works, mom."

Her mother waved her off and turned to drift across her room, straightening things that were never touched by Nicole to begin with—like the decorative box of tissues and channel guide on the entertainment center.

Nicole yawned and stretched. "What time is it?"

"Your great-grandpappy had a hunchback," Her mother persisted. She tutted at the small plastic bottle of whiskey that Nicole had dug out of the minifridge the night before, rattling it to indicate the fact that it was empty. "Really? Are we doing this again?"

Nicole stood and went to snatch the bottle from her mother's hand. "Could you dial back the lectures? I just woke up."

Her mom opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted as the door burst open. Sarah came tittering through with a drink carrier in one hand and a bag from the coffee shop downstairs in her other. "A small green tea for you, mom, because I know you're watching your caffeine intake."

"Did you get your sister a coffee? You really shouldn't have, studies say that caffeine can cause back pain and ulcers, which explains the chronic heartburn I was experiencing before I quit the stuff completely…" Their mother completely ignored the tea that Sarah handed to her, discarding it on the entertainment center so she could pluck up the tall drink meant for Nicole and pop the lid off. She gave it a sniff and jerked back with her nose scrunched. "Good night, nurse! What is this?"

Hesitantly, she lowered her nose to the open container and gave another sniff as Sarah responded. "An Americano, of course. I also have some fresh fruit which is all she's allowed to eat until dinner because she needs to fit into that dress tomorrow night." She reached out and pried it out of their mother's grasp, giving her a fleeting dirty look as she passed it into Nicole's grateful waiting hand. "Drink your tea, mother."

Nicole blew the steam off of her coffee and thanked her sister. She sighed heavily and started towards the bathroom. Her mother and sister immediately started fussing over the state of her room—specifically the few empty mini liquor bottles in the trashcan near the chair Nicole had fallen asleep in.

She let the bathroom door softly click shut behind her and sighed as she sat on the toilet to take long, patient sips of her hot coffee. Her mother had mentioned her life choices before she'd even had the chance to fully wake up this morning. Ironically, it had been all she could think about the whole night last night.

All the choices she made that led her here, now, in this bathroom, with this disgustingly large, beautiful diamond on her finger that weighed her finger down. She turned it to face up perfectly and sighed at it and wondered what Derek would say about it. He'd hate it. Or would he?

Slowly, she went to the counter and set her coffee down. She looked herself in the mirror and held her hand up, watching the way the lights played off the diamond next to her face.

She twisted the ring around on her finger and gingerly worked it over the knuckle, sliding it down unhurriedly, relishing the subtle loss of weight. There was a loud bash on the door and she gasped and the ring flew off her finger and into the sink, where it bounced and circled the drain before disappearing.

"Nicole Jessica Powell! You better be getting in the shower! We have reservations for ten o'clock!" Sarah reported like a five-star general.

Her heart was in her throat as she stared at the drain in horror, her hands covering her mouth. There came another knock, this one less a bash and more a torrent of irritated thuds. "Nicole?" Her mother called. "Nicole, I'm coming in."

The door opened and her mother and sister froze at the sight of her.

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked from over their other's shoulder. Nicole didn't respond. She knew she should say something. Anything! She couldn't. She was the worst. The silence loudly stretched on, and they looked at the sink, then back to her, then back to the sink.

"Nicole…" Sarah slowly deduced. "Where is your ring?" She already knew.

"What?" Their mother obliviously asked. She looked between her daughters cluelessly. "What? Sarah, where is her ring?"

"It's okay!" Sarah put her hands out in a calming motion. "Whatever you do, do not turn the water on! JARED! JARED, GET YOUR TOOLS!"

"Sarah?" Their mother asked, watching as the younger girl lunged for the exit, calling for her husband all the while. She looked back at the sink. "Nicole!" She shrilly exclaimed.

Nicole backed up, plopped on the toilet, and covered her face, her shoulders silently shaking.

"Oh, honey, don't. Don't do that!" Her mother quickly came to her side and began to pet her shoulders. "There, there now. I hate it when you do this! You've always been such a quiet crier; it's terrifying to see a baby not make any noise when it cries! Oh, your face gets so red! Honey, we have reservations! Stop it!"

Nicole gasped and pushed her mom away, her cheeks wet with tears. She shook her head. "Get out!"

"What?"

She pushed her mom across the bathroom. "Just go! I want you out! Get out!" The door of the room opened and Sarah returned with Jared hot on her heels at the same moment that Nicole pushed her mother out of the bathroom and slammed the door.

She twisted her hands in her hair and panicked.

Outside, she could hear her mother and sister's frantic voices.

"What did you do? What did you say to her?" Sarah, who was accusing their mother.

"Nothing! She was crying!"

"You made her cry!"

Their mother gasped. "Absolutely not! She lost the ring down the drain for heaven's sake! You really think anything I could say could possibly make her feel worse?"

"Yes! Yes! You always make it worse!"

"You try talking to her then!"

The room quieted and Nicole gripped the edge of the counter tightly, willing the tears to stop. Her chin trembled and she shook with anger and sadness and guilt, and when there was a gentle rap at the door she jumped.

"Nicole? It's okay now; Jared is here with his tools. He can get the ring."

Another sob choked her and she turned around and dissolved, sliding to the floor.

"Nicole, don't worry about the reservations, okay?"

Nicole sobbed so hard she couldn't breathe.

"I heard the service at that restaurant isn't very good. It's okay, really!"

There was no response. There were muffled voices, but they spoke too lowly for it to reach Nicole's ears through the door, and she was too hysterical by that point anyway.

"…Nicole? Uh, it's me. Jared."

She snorted and paused to blink, her eyes hot as tears continued to spill down her cheeks.

"Nicole, look… True, you dropped the engagement ring. And that's probably pretty scary. You're probably afraid Chris is going to be mad—ow! Sarah! Let me finish! Umm, okay, what was I saying? Oh, yeah. Chris. I don't know him very well, but from what I can tell I think he'll take it okay. You know what's scarier? Sarah, if we miss those reservations."

Nicole choked out a laugh. Slowly, her crying had dwindled, and she was now just hiccupping on the ground, running her hand over her hair as she listened to Jared awkwardly attempt to coax her to open the door.

"Seriously," He said, and she could hear the smile in his voice and wondered if he'd heard her laughing. "She kept talking about it all last night. If we're going to make it on time I need to get in there so I can get the ring from the pipes."

Nicole leaned over and reached up to flip the lock, opening the door a crack. "Just Jared."

Sarah huffed and Nicole watched Jared turn to make a calming gesture to her. He turned back and slowly opened the door, stepping inside, and he shut it behind him.

He stood looking down at her with a toolbox in his hand. "Wow. Hey."

Nicole sniffed and swiped at her nose. Her chuckle was nasally from her tears. "Sorry about this, Jared."

"It's really no big deal. It's kind of my job. Well, the whole taking-things-apart part, but aside from that, I had three sisters, so crying doesn't freak me out. Could you, uh, scoot over?"

She apologized and went to sit on the toilet lid again, chewing at her thumbnail. She watched Jared open his toolbox and listened to him talk about the time he had to repair the pipes in the toilet of their basement one time because Caroline and Cora… he trailed off.

"Oh, sorry."

Nicole forced a shrug. "No, don't be. I know how close you are to them. You shouldn't feel like you can't talk about them."

Jared considered her carefully. "Yeah… I guess. I just know you and Derek were pretty close too."

She cleared her throat and looked away. "Does he… I mean, did you… say anything to him?"

"Derek knows, if that's what you're asking," Jared said, opening the cabinets to get to the pipes underneath. It grew awkwardly quiet as he began to work. Minutes passed as he disassembled the pipes and she was startled when he finally spoke again. "He doesn't know it's this weekend, I don't think. He… uh, didn't want to know."

He might as well have swung a bag of bricks at her stomach. She hunched over farther and turned her face away, covering her mouth to will the pain into submission. Nicole gasped in a silent breath and forced her voice to remain neutral as she said, "Really, I'm sorry about this."

Jared lifted his head and peered through the cabinet at her. The door suddenly opened and Chris stepped through.

Nicole immediately stood, and the tension shifted and morphed into a new tone, one that only Jared and Nicole were aware of, though you wouldn't know it by looking at Nicole. She allowed Chris to pull her into a hug and looked down when he pressed a tender kiss to her forehead.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his kind brown eyes set in concern. "Sarah came to get me."

Nicole's eyes flashed into the room behind him, where her sister stood nearby with her mother and looked on. "I didn't mean to, I was just—I was washing my hands and i-it just must have slipped and—"

"Nicky, stop, stop," He hushed, pulling her to him in a comforting embrace. "It's seriously fine. Look, Jared's got it handled like a champ, right Jared?"

"Yep!" He called from under the sink.

She snorted at his blunt reply and looked back at Chris, unable to keep the sadness from her face. "Did I ruin the weekend?"

He almost looked offended. "You do know what tomorrow is, right?"

Nicole smiled with a small twinge of shame. "The Patriots play the Cowboys."

Chris laughed loudly and tugged her into another tight embrace. "I love you."

She screwed her eyes shut. "I really don't see how. I'm the worst. I don't see how you'll ever forgive me."

He chuckled again, kissing the side of her head. "There's nothing to forgive," He reassured. "Besides. Even if something had really happened to it, I have insurance on the ring."

"Insurance? On an engagement ring?" Nicole felt strangely odd about that. What had he been expecting to happen?

"Now there's a man who's prepared to marry my Nicole!" Her mother happily clapped, and as Chris turned away to give her his best charming smile, Nicole frowned to herself.

Jared suddenly popped up from under the counter with the ring.

Chris cheered with Sarah and their mother clapped again. "Your father would be so happy to know that you've both found such capable men!"

Sarah and Nicole rolled their eyes and Jared raised his eyebrow at Chris, who grinned good-naturedly. Chris clapped Jared on the back. "Hey, thanks man. Glad you were here. Good thing the water didn't rinse it too far down, huh?"

Jared caught Nicole's eye just before she looked away, handing the ring over to Chris. "Yeah," He agreed. "Good thing."

Nicole watched as Chris slid it back onto her ring finger, and when he flashed his teeth in a wide grin, she weakly returned it. "See?" Chris assured. "No worse for wear."

It was much later, in the middle of breakfast as Nicole listened to Sarah talk with their cousin about the DJ, when Nicole's phone buzzed. She let go of Chris's hand to check it.

 _I need to see you._

Her heart raced and she sweated with a secret thrill like she hadn't for nearly two years. There was only one person it could be. Chris laid his arm across the back of her chair and leaned in, and she quickly dropped the screen on her phone to the home page. "Tell your boss he can figure out how to check his own schedule," He whispered, and she forced a smile.

She glanced at Jared and waited for him to lean away before she replied.

 _When and were?_

Blood and adrenaline sped through her veins and she felt dizzy as she chewed her nail to anxiously wait for a reply. When the phone buzzed, she jumped. Chris was in the middle of laughing at a joke her uncle made about the upcoming sports game and didn't notice.

 _Room 310. Tonight._

Derek was there, at the hotel. Jared had said he didn't know it was this weekend. Had he lied? She knew it was wrong, but she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and put away her phone.

* * *

~TWTWTW~

* * *

The numbers on the door mocked her. She had been standing in the hallway for what felt like an eternity. She almost left three times. She kept expecting the door to open and the choice to be made for her. But that wasn't Derek's style. She knew that.

After almost chickening out for the thousandth time, she strode back to the door and knocked purposefully without thinking. There was a pause, and the door opened.

Twenty-three months. Twenty-three long, agonizing, life-altering months. They'd dragged by, and they'd sped by. She'd dreamt of this moment again and again and now here they were at long last. He was right there in front of her and… there he was. Just standing there, looking exactly as she remembered.

It was everything she had expected and a swell of emotions that were too frenzied to even process had her nearly falling to her knees. Had she been dead for the past two years? She felt like this was the first breath she'd taken since she walked away. She hadn't realized until that moment that she'd been numb, and now everything was electrified.

He opened the door wider, giving her just enough space to pass inside. "Come in," He said, his voice low and rumbling and soothing like gentle thunder in a rain shower.

She stepped inside.


	2. Chapter 2

Nicole gave the room a cursory scan. It was exactly like hers, except Derek's dark jacket was laid over the chair across from his bed. And he probably didn't have a frilly white dress hanging in the closet. Curious, she looked down beside the legs of the chair, and yes—there were his shoes.

"New jacket," She noted. Well, not everything was the same about him.

Derek cocked an eyebrow and looked her over. "New dress."

She never used to wear dresses. At least, not willingly. Now, it seemed, she was willing to try on all sorts of them. She forced her mind away from the white dress hanging in her room two floors up.

"Sarah gave me a makeover," She explained, and paused at his raised eyebrows. "It stuck."

He lingered in the doorway even as she moved deeper into his room. "Your hair…" He murmured.

She reached up and touched the sleek, straight tendrils on her shoulder. "I straighten it now."

Her curls had been his favorite part of her. Of course, he'd also claimed that her green eyes were his favorite. And her legs. And her smile, because of her dimples. And the way she sighed at him when she was annoyed. She swallowed a sigh now, and started to change the subject when she noticed he was not looking anywhere near her hair anymore. His eyes were trained on her left hand. Specifically, the ring.

He looked up at her and she moved away. Derek took slow, measured steps into the room. "Wow," He said. "Is that…?"

She felt the need to hide her hand behind her back. "It's a lot, right?"

He approached her to take her hand and get a closer look. When he had finally inspected it a bit he shook his head with a poorly suppressed smirk and said, "No, it's huge and…" He scratched his neck. "Big. It's great. Wow. What did he do wrong?"

Nicole scoffed and rolled her eyes. Such a typical response from him. She elbowed him in the side. "Nothing, actually. He's kind of… disgustingly perfect? His biggest flaw is spoiling me too much. Flowers and candy, and jewelry," Nicole lifted her ring for proof. "And he has really great taste."

A thinly masked expression of pain flashed across his face, but it was fleeting and in the next breath Derek had dropped her hand and moved away.

"Clearly. What's he do?" He asked, even though she knew he was dying to criticize it. She could tell by the look on his face. In Derek's way, that was a backhanded insult, because he was commenting on how expensive the ring must have been.

She grumbled to suppress another sigh. "He's a detective at one of the stations in San Francisco."

He snorted and then a slow, shameless grin crossed his face when she glared at him. Suddenly, it was too much. The way he looked at her was too much. She turned away.

Feeling nervous, she found that she couldn't keep her mouth shut. "I dropped it down the sink this morning. The ring. I tried to take it off and Sarah kicked the door of the bathroom and scared me and I dropped it—and Jared had to come take the pipes apart to get it out. The front desk probably doesn't know. Hopefully they won't find out; I already took out a lot of the bottles in the mini-fridge so I know my bill will be unbelievably high and…"

Derek was standing close enough to reach out and touch. "Of course you did," He simply said, though it was unclear which part he referred to.

Nicole looked away, hugging her middle. "It's been so long…"

Derek's face was soft. It seemed like he was going to say something else, but changed his mind at the last moment. "Does… does he know?"

She could hardly look at him. Her voice was no more than a whisper. "I never told him anything about the supernatural. I doubt I ever will. It's… part of my past now. It doesn't concern him."

"Someone once told me that a relationship can't last if you can't be honest with each other."

Her eyes flashed up to his. She forgot how to breathe, and he was so close… he still radiated heat and she still felt drawn to him, like he was the sun pulling her into orbit or something. "Honestly? He wouldn't believe me even if I told him."

Derek finally reached out and touched her hair. When she didn't immediately stop him, he slowly ran his fingers through it until he could rest his hand on her upper back.

She looked up and that old flame danced between them, and it caught her by surprise like hadn't since they first got to know each other… _before_. He looked at her and there was a history reflected there, one that had been neglected for so long it was now unfamiliar and new again, and proving unimaginably hard to resist.

He cupped her jaw and the pain that she saw in his eyes made her ache for him. There was a time, one that felt not so long ago now that she stood here with him, when she used to be the only one who could soothe the hurt in him. "Derek…"

Derek silenced her with his lips. She gasped and jerked away in surprise.

"Derek, we…" She looked down. The words were on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't say them. _We shouldn't. I_ _ **can't**_.

"Say it." His voice was low and raw, and she was angry. Angry that things had turned out this way—that they were in a position that was so close and yet so far apart. It was never meant to turn out this way. "Tell me to leave, and I will. I'll walk out of here and you can… marry him, if that's what you think you need to do."

He grabbed her chin and lifted her face to meet his burning eyes that searched hers desperately.

"Just tell me to go and I'll do it. For you."

And he meant it. She could see it plain as day all over his face. It would break him, but he would do it for her. She couldn't do that. She'd been there, she had been in the same position when he asked her to go so many years ago and she had never fully recovered from what it did to her. That sort of pain, it doesn't ever really leave you. It hardens you and changes you and you'll do anything just to cope for a little bit longer. Always, just a little bit longer. And now here they were, and he was willing to do the same, if only she asked it of him.

"Why are you here?" She asked. "I thought this was what you wanted!"

"This?" He burst, and she stepped around him. He turned to follow her. "This isn't what I wanted! Look at you! I don't even recognize you anymore!"

That stung. A lot. She gasped in an angry breath. "Well maybe that's because I'm not the same."

His eyes were stuck on hers and slowly, he shook his head. "Maybe you're not."

It hurt, but perhaps that was good. The pain would keep them apart. Suddenly, it was easier to maintain her distance from him. She started towards the door and he didn't make a move to stop her.

By his chair, she paused because she needed to say it. "This is the end of it," She said, her heart breaking all over again. Her throat ached tightly and this impossible task was made even harder by the shimmer she saw in Derek's eyes. "If I walk out, then you can't contact me again. We can never do this again." Because next time, she might not have the strength to do the right thing.

He blinked and turned away. "If that's what you want."

Even as her heart screamed at her not to do it, she turned her back. "Don't stand there now and act like you gave me a choice," she murmured. "You made the decision for both of us a long time ago."

"It wasn't like that and you know it! I was trying to protect you! You wanted a normal life, and you deserve one, Nicole!" He gestured to the door. "So go, go get it."

She clenched her fists and shook her head. "I wanted _you_ , you idiot!"

Derek stepped away from the window to yell back. "All I _ever_ wanted was you!"

She screamed in frustration and tangled her hands in her hair. "You jack ass! You're _such_ an asshole! You have the worst timing, you know that? God!"

The righteous anger had faded from his face, leaving a more subdued indignation in its place. He seemed resigned to whatever fate she might decide, as he crossed his arms and said, "So what's it going to be?"

Taking a deep breath, Nicole huffed shortly. Quietly, she said, "No matter what I choose someone will be hurt."

Derek was quiet for a long moment as they reflected on what she meant. If she chose Chris, Derek would be devastated. If she chose Derek, Chris would be devastated. She doesn't have time to fully give each option its fair consideration, either. But if she chose Derek, a lot of things would be sacrificed.

Her relationship with her mother would be destroyed, for one. She couldn't be sure how Sarah would react. And if Sarah were to be upset by it, would that cause a rift between her and Jared, since Jared is best friends with Derek? Or would Jared disapprove too, and it would cause a rift between Derek and Jared? And what about Chris? He cared deeply for her, didn't he?

He made the most sense, if you look at it from a purely objective perspective. He offered a traditional, prolific life. He offered her love and devotion and a white picket fence and vacations to Europe and a big family and… stability.

But Derek was the only one who truly knew her. He was the only one she ever really…

She didn't know. She just didn't know.

She couldn't even think clearly. Her breath was short and she felt like the walls were closing in on her. Derek stared at her and watched her every move and she knew that he had to realize she was two seconds away from breaking down but he made no move to calm her, and that was probably for the best, but it also pissed her off because that's what they _do,_ they've always calmed each other down, and she was angry because she knew she had no right to be angry—

"I can't deal with this right now—" She yanked the door open.

"Nicole, no! You don't get to do this! You can't just run away from—" He stopped when she whirled around to glare at him and he considered it. "…You know what? On second thought, go. Just go. Get out of here. You obviously don't know what you want and I can't hold your hand—not through this."

"Good!" She yelled, tears blurring her vision. "You know what? When we were together, I actually thought you were perfect. I said that to my mom. She laughed at me at the time and I thought it was because she didn't understand. But I see now that it was _me_ who didn't understand. I thought I needed you just to live. You were _perfect_. You made me feel like… the best version of me that I could be! Do you even know what that _feels_ like?"

Derek couldn't seem to speak. With a strained, quiet voice, he just barely managed to whisper, "Yes," before Nicole was barreling over him again, shaking the door in her grasp with every emphasized word.

"And then you just took it away! And I didn't know who I _was_ anymore without you! I had to fight—every—day—just to get out of bed because I knew you weren't lying next to me! You were gone! And it's what you wanted! And it sucked! It was the hardest thing I ever had to do! And I did it every day! It feels like a whole god damn lifte time has passed since we broke up, and I'm still not happy but I was just starting to feel okay again. I made my own life, without you. And I learned that I don't _need_ you, Derek. I'll always want you, but I don't need you."

His voice was small as he said, "But I need you."

She shook her head. "No, you don't. If that was true you never would have made me leave in the first place."

He looked down. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged, a broken smile on her lips, and sputtered out a tearful laugh. "You're too late."

"I'm sorry." It seemed to be the only thing he could say, and it was full of pain. But it wasn't enough.

She shook her head and opened the door wide enough to leave. "I have to go."

He didn't make a move to stop her as she stepped out of the room and back into the hallway. It was hard, but she eventually made it to the elevator, and the doors closed and his hall was replaced with her reflection.

Her face screwed up and she broke into shuddering, pitiful sobs. She couldn't go back to her room alone. She just couldn't. So she didn't. She pressed the button and stepped out onto Chris's floor.

Without putting much thought behind her actions, she all but ran down the hall to his room, counting the numbers on the door as she went.

When she reached his she stopped because the door was cracked open. The lock had been flipped back and it was stuck between the frame and the door, propping it open, and she could hear the television going.

Why would the door be opened? The rational part of her brain suggested that he might have lost his room key and stepped out to grab some ice or something, and left the door propped open so he could get back inside. But no. Chris would never do something so irresponsible. He would have multiple room keys for just such an occasion.

She was lying to herself, but she held onto the razor thin possibility that there was a reasonable explanation as she pushed the door open.

The lights were out. Only the television was on, some infomercial playing and casting a dim, flickering light across the bed. There was a form lying in the sheets.

Her pounding heart soared in relief and she sighed loudly. Maybe he hadn't even noticed the door was open. Maybe it was an honest mistake, a fluke thing.

She should've known better. As she got closer, she saw a strange, dark shape on his sheets that hers did not have. And thinking of it, neither had Derek's. But maybe the first floor beds had a different design.

Her fingers trembling, she reached out to touch the shape, and jerked away with a yelp that she smothered with her hands because it was wet and it was a dark stain and she knew what it was. The television screen behind her went white as the infomercial zoomed in on some product and the bed was illuminated around her shadow and she saw that the sheets were soaked in brilliant, crimson red—

There was no one in the bed. They were tangled enough to create a ridge that she'd assumed was a person's body but in reality there was nothing more than a tangle of sheets and comforters. She reached out to pull the blanket straight and saw there was in fact a design of ivy making a medallion to accentuate the green and brown tones of the duvet. There was no stain of blood. Only tricks of the light and a vivid imagination.

She looked up when heard a door click shut. The screen flickered again and the room was enclosed in darkness as it switched to pitch black and she jumped and spun around with a yelp of fright.

A ghost she thought long dead stood with his hands behind his back, the reflection in the glass television of the screen he'd turned of revealing that he held something in his hands. Was he real? Could it actually be happening?

Peter smiled at her. "Nicky," He said, tauntingly. "Nicky, Nicky, Nicky. Did my invitation get lost in the mail?"


End file.
